L.A. Times shtickmeister T.J. Simers has all sorts of interesting Elton Brand content in his column this morning.

Among the revelations:

While it's public knowledge that Elton ruptured his Achilles during his "daily workout" on August 3, the specific drill in question was a game of one-on-one against Chris Kaman.

According to Brand's blog [via Simers], the ruptured Achilles didn't occur out of the blue, but "stemmed from an injury that happened in Toronto against the Raptors" last Febuary. "We were in the midst of a Playoff race so even though I felt the pain, I went by my rule 'if I can Run I can Play'. I had to miss 2 games because of compensating for that injury. I received the Cortisone shot (my first ever) to try to alleviate the pain. It worked for a while, but the same issue later arose."

More startling, though, is this comment from Brand regarding an apparent accusation from Clippers' officials that Elton's injury might be attributable to PEDs. Again, Brand's blog by way of Simers: "One could imagine my disbelief when I was asked if my injury was due to performance enhancing drugs by Clipper brass. I know we live in that era, but I hold the game of basketball in high esteem, and conduct myself with integrity. I am not trying to go all 'Kobe' on the staff, but to be asked that question when all the facts were presented throughout the year was very disappointing to say the least."

Elton insists that the Clippers will not be the 2006-2007 Memphis Grizzlies sans Pau Gasol. '"I guarantee you it won't be like the Grizzlies (who lost Pau Gasol and then went into the dumper)," Brand said. "The guys have already called and said they'll keep it going until I get back.

"Take my brother Kaman," Brand added, "he's been in the gym working hard every day and looking great."'

My sense, never having met the guy, is that you have to go to some extreme degrees to piss off Elton Brand. Apparently, the Clippers managed to achieve that. Well done.

Posted Wednesday, October 29 at 3:20PM

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Comments

I have to admit, that when I read the section where he takes a shot at Sterling and Co., I got scared! Way to p*ss him off! Even a great guy like EB has limits on how he can get pushed around by management!...He is scheduled to be on TJ’s radio show (Roggin and Simmers 2) next week. Am570radio.com…they stream it live.

I read the article, and I'm not as pessimistic as everyone else seems to be. The silver lining in the "interview" is that Brand still regards his teammates as "brothers" and he emphasized the point that the team will hold it together until he gets back.

Plus, we don't know who asked EB about PEDs. Could have been some nobody, and not someone, like, MDS or Baylor... let hope not.

Raymond, I could not agree more with your comments above. Management must be held accountable for the serious of blunders. I've written some very pointed words for the orginization..check my comments on the maggette posting a few days ago. I just got off the phone with my ticket rep, he said lots of people have been calling, including someone that felt it necessary to discuss this in person at the Clips office today. Some people have even taken the liberty to write a few words to management on http://www.firedunleavy.com.

Right John R (aka MDSr's alter ego) - some of us (John R) would rather waste their energy on irrelevant issues such as when a lone wolf referee gets caught in a gambling sting ("The sky is falling, the sky is falling") than say anything critical of the team.

John R, let me help you - it wasn't what Simers wrote, but what EB said to Simers, that concerns many of us.

I don't understand why everyone is acting like this is a big deal. The clippers pay elton 10 milliom dollars a year. If they have something on their mind, they did the right thing by asking him the question. For crying out loud, it's not like they searched his home. The clippers should feel insulted that Brand even made the statement. The fact that he mentioned anything is too much 'going kobe' for me.

Just wanted to let you guys know a bunch of clipper players play pickup ball at ucla every weekday afternoon starting at around 3. I have already seen chris kaman, sam cassell, cuttino mobley, guillermo diaz, yaroslav korolev, and paul davis play there. If you live around ucla, you guys should come check it out its at the gym at the student activities center and they start around 3 30 every afternoon mon to thurs. There is also a bunch of other nba players there about 15 nba players show up everyday its pretty cool. Just wanted to let you guys know how the clipper players are doing kaman still misses too many chippies even though he is looking more aggressive trying to dunk the ball around the rim. Today he threw one down on keith closs that had the crowd buzzin. Cassell, mobley and davis really look like their ready and in shape, especially davis who has been shooting the ball really well. Cassell and mobley also look really good and are usually the leading scorers on their teams and they also demand the ball when the games are close. Korolev on the other hand does not look confident and I have seen a couple of airballs from him not a good sign. Coach dunleavy is also there most of the time usually on the sidelines checking out the games. If you live around ucla come check it out

Doug, I'm with you!! People need to stop concentrating on the negatives and try to talk about the positive. For example what bizwiks wrote about the team shooting hoop together and Kaman being more aggresive, and Cassell&Mobley looking good out there!! I can't wait to see the squad out there come the regular season. We are going to miss EB, but Cassell is a winner and with Corey and hopefully Kaman stepping up as the big presence in the middle!! We are going to be ok.I like to tell it how it is, and I have always thought that the monement Kaman decides to just man up, we are going to outpower teams. True fact, the Clippers let the league in blocks last year and not all the block were made by EB.

What makes me sad is that Corey is not playing pick-up with these guys and he needs to step up his game the most! We know he's not working out with Kobe (His Summer Workout partner) because Kobes busy with USA ball... Im not a Maggette-Hater, I just think he has so much potential to be a much better player for a team thats gonna need big numbers for him this year... c'mon Corey, where the hell you at???

Call me crazy, but I happen to think that management approaching EB making such accusations is a big deal. Why would they mess with EB? Makes no sense at all. And taken along with all the other wrong choices, it speaks to management becoming more and more incompetant. All I have to say is, they had better have some sort of hard evidence. Otherwise, it's defamation of character and depending on the context of that conversation, it's concievable that EB will remember this when it's time to decide if he wants to play for the Clips when his player option kicks in Summer 2009. Did they ask Shaun the same thing when he nearly snapped his leg off? Probably not, and they should have had him on a tougher workout regiment so his body could sustain the NBA. EB being the great role model that he is deserves better from his employer, that's the bottom line. This with EB is much like Dunleavy burying Maggette last year, he too will have a decision to make this Summer and will likely be gone after this season as a result. And as for Kaman, he had better step up this year. Sterling gave him crazy money for being Chris Kaman, and it'd be nice if he felt the need to be assertive on the court and not just the lazy bystander he has grown way too accostomed to being.

In fairness, I don't believe they accused him. Someone, we don't know who, apparently asked him. Since we don't know who it was, we have no idea whether this was an official question asked by management or rather reflective of some idiot's personal thoughts. Either way, it obviously upset EB, as it should have, and they are going to have to deal with it.

You mean that lone wolf who is saying that 20 other refs are known to gamble in violation of the league's policy, which the league did not deny knowing given the chance, and has taken no disciplinary action? Yeah, seems like nothing to worry about. No impropriety there. I mean, it seems like just yesterday SI was suggesting the referee situation had become an Old Boys network, something I suggested long ago and you couldn't quite wrap your head around. If I wanted to create a recipe for an official to turn, I couldn't come up with a better mix than questionable hiring based on other than merit and publicly ignoring a policy that is allegedly zero tolerance. Even if it is only TD, the NBA is clearly complicit in creating him, and they are showing little desire to break the mold. Yeah, that definitely seems like a healthy situation.

Compare to the LA Times designated inflammatory sports columnist getting goats. Simers is good at it, but he's kinda a one trick pony. If you've read one column you've read them all.

I'd suggest you consider obsessing over something other than Corey Maggette's minutes. You might gain the luxury of perspective. I think it isn't YT that has their priorities out of order.

John R, you're hanging your hat regarding the referee on the word of a convicted felon that referees participate in NCAA pools. Big scandal there.

Of course, this is all very different than John R's previous "emotional" posts regarding this silly overhyped issue. For example, what happened to your "four refs from the same high school = armageddon" argument?

John R, your assertion that "the NBA created the convicted felon" is perhaps the silliest post I've ever read of yours, and believe me, that's saying alot.

Finally, John R, you continue to confuse Simers' own prose with quotations from EB himself. I guess you really don't understand the difference.

Of course, we understand why you don't like Simers - he faulted your hero MDSr for last year's debacle and earlier this year quoted MDSr as indicating that Mr. Maggette will be starting (thereby admitting he was wrong last year).

Jax

PS - John R, I would suggest that you stop wasting our time with your silly emotional, baseless and nonsensical tirades about nothing.

More on this - NBA refs are paid $250k/yr or more plus expenses. John R thinks that betting on NCAA pools and the like would create a situation in which refs making $250k a year or more were likely to "turn". That's ridiculous.

Jax has a good point with Maggette. Although Corey's game is not perfect and he has lapses on D from time to time, he's the Clips second best player, period. His ability to penetrate gives him opportunities to score at the line, not to mention forces the opposition to sub guys out due to fouls which creates mismatch opportunities for the rest of the squad. Now with EB rehabbing his achilles, he's our best scoring option. Everyone not named Mike Dunleavy already knows this, maybe this year Dunleavy too will figure it out. My guess is he'll run the exact same play for Kaman over and over again, and we'll sit there and watch Kaman dribble the ball off his foot or get swatted every time.

I know the Clips just inked some guy named Josh Powell but I don't think it's too late to get big SOFO on a diet, buy his silly contract out in Greece, and get him over here for this season. Of course, this would take some action from our famed front office. The Clips front office OWES us big SOFO, especially with this lovely 20% price increase for a team that will be begging to win 25 games this year. If we could only get MD off the golf course and out of poker room (allegedly) perhaps this could be achieved. Man would I love to sit across from MD at the poker table. I bet he telegraphs his poker play like he does his offensive plays. Sure there's a line out the door to sit at MD's table, damn.

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